M - Sigh. As I feared this stuff is entirely and completely flat. Cmon...

O - Overall this was a pretty big let down. The nose is pretty good, the taste is awesome though the lack of any carbonation hinders the flavours. Was quite excited to try this beer and it was an enormous let down thanks to it being completely flat.

Overall. Despite the great taste I can't stand a flat beer. I think at least 95% of all the flat beers I've drank have been HotD and I'm pretty fucking tired of this shit, especially for what these clowns charge for their beer. So done with this brewery besides what I have in the cellar already.

Appearance- Surprise, surprise, surprise, there is absolutely no head. I'm guessing that it was a medium to dark beige while the body is an almost entirely opaque, dark chocolate brown but shows slight slivers of burgundy and garnet when held up to the light. Head turns out to be a dark beige. Not lacing is left behind.

Nose- Fairly complex and fairly promising. Starts off with a lot of cherries and raisins and then moves to some chocolate notes. A good amount of coconut as well. Suggestions of vanilla and toffee. Swirling shows more cherry and chocolate.

Taste- Starts off with raisins and cherries that sit in a boozy syrup and deep chocolate. Booze is very present but nice. Lots of bourbon. Some fruitcake, candi sugar, but overall lots of chocolate. Some coconut. Very tasty beer, very Hair of the Dog. Some straw on the finish? A little bit of grain, maybe grass? That may just be the linger from Blue Dot though. Some vinosity- red grapes, light sherry. Notions of rumcake (just a little bit). Hints at leather. Definite straw. A note I didn't expect but gives this beer more character and distinguishes it from the flavor profile that a lot of HotD's bigger beers seem to have in common. Some plums in addition to the other red fruits. Really good to great beer- pretty much in the middle. However, the intense chocolate and hints of leather pretty much edge this toward the great category. Booze mellows out and makes this a very drinkable (and scary) beer.

Mouthfeel- A little more than medium bodied with more carbonation than the appearance would suggest. Slight zip. I know the big complaint about HotD is the lack of carbonation but I could actually use less for this beer.

Drinkability- This beer would be absolutely dangerous if it weren't also 14 bucks a bottle (and this is the 2012 version, the 2009 and 2011 go for 17). The booze is more taste than actual apparent alcohol. Mellow enough that I would always go for the fresher vintage.

Overall- Really good to great, pretty much great. While it won't make me wait in lines, I do understand why others do. Worth a try and I will definitely drop by the taproom again to try it again.

Poured 2012 Vintage bottle into snifter, vigarious pour that left a nice 1 inch head, white with a red tint, that settled rather quickly. Color is a very dark brown with a slight ruby hue.

Aroma has some oak and cherry as I'd expect. Dark fruits, whiskey, and toffee are also noticeable.

Taste is absolutely amazing and complex! Starts off with some sweetness, brown sugar, raisins, dark chocolate, cherries. Finish has the perfect amount of bitterness to complement the sweetness and there is a warming alcohol prescence noted

Mouthfeel is almost perfect--nice strong body, lower carbonation, smooth drinking but just a tad sticky

Overall this is probably one of the top 10 beers I've consumed. A great sipper for the colder weather that warms you up. Thanks to BA AirborneBeer for this awesome brew!

Two exceptional traders, errantnight and hoppymeal, each sent me a bottle, thanks fellas! Cherry Adam from the Wood pops open with the faintest of sound but I do see bubbles form in the neck of the bottle. A hard pour produces a ring of bubbles around the snifter and a top the darkest of red body. The pour is nearly black but shows enough hints of mahogany to keep from being total darkness.

Each sniff starts off with rich dark cherry and a solid, somewhat sweet bourbon note that brings a helping hand of vanilla to the table. A quick swirl of the snifter brings along more of the Adam qualities with a huge caramel and toffee malt backbone. A tendril of smoke rises to meet me but only adds a compliment instead of stepping on toes. I can't smell any booze besides the familiar scent of bourbon and the complexity comes together very nicely, each aspect having its own niche. As this warms there's a nuttiness that comes forward, reminiscent of walnuts.

The flavor follows the aroma closely. The bourbon is fainter in the taste than the aroma suggested but it still lends a slightly sweet note with some nice vanilla coming through. Toffee maltiness comes through in droves while the dark cherries simply add a nice touch of rich fruitiness. The finish brings with it some mildly roasty and nutty bitterness that tends to linger after each drink.

The body feels light up front that, I have a feeling, results from the low carbonation but hits its stride mid-palate with a slick, oily mouthfeel. The body weighs in a step higher than moderate and the slickness seems to permeate nearly every tastebuds on my tongue. There's zero noticeable alcohol.

Cherry Adam is a sipper without a doubt; a sipper that makes perfect sense for a cold evening like tonight. This is a beer to cozy up with and enjoy all the complexities as it warms over the course of an hour.

Hair of the Dog managed to come up with another winner in Cherry Adam from the Wood. As much as I enjoy this beer I have to say Iâ€™d rather reach for the regular Adam but this one seems like a special treat. Thanks for the bottles, guys!

12 oz bottle, 2012 vintage served in a Firestone Walker mini snifter. Thanks to Dan (sweemzander) for the share!

A: Pours a semi clear brown color with a deep reddish tint to the edges. A very thin brown head forms on the pour and it recedes quickly to a thin wispy film.

S: Great mix of smells on the nose. You can pick out the leathery and sweet malts from the Adam, the bourbon barrel with some oak, bourbon and a light caramel note, and finally the sweetness and fruitiness from the cherries.

T: The taste is even better. Cherry sweetness up front with some smooth oak and bourbon with a nice twinge of leather. Notes of vanilla and sherry with a heavy, bready malt note reminiscent of regular Adam.

M: Medium bodied trending towards the heavier side with a sticky and oily mouthfeel. Medium low carbonation with sweet and leathery finish.

O: Simply delicious. Everything works in perfect harmony and Adam as the base is the perfect vessel for the barrel aging and the cherry sweetness.

Split a bottle with co-worker at the Taproom. Work right across the bridge from Hair of the Dog thankfully.

Pours a dark brown/black with a very small amount of foam. looks very thick and oily

smells very sweet and oaky. definitly can smell the cherries as well. had an Adam from the wood, a Panapooch, and a blue-dot IPA beforehand so having a sweet beer was a welcome change.

mouthfeel was very smooth and somewhat syrupy. not sure about the ABV discrepancy, but the one I tried was listed at 13.5%. for a beer that big, it was crazy drinkable. very mild carbonation, but obviously this beer is a sipper and should probably be shared.

overall: I have had many many HOD beers, and they are almost always fantastic. This beer completely blew me away. for some reason I was not expecting it to be this good and just wanted to try one of the many " wood" beers they had available. very happy this was the one we chose. the cherries and barrel aging come though perfectly and are so well balanced. I could have drank this beer all afternoon if it wouldnt put me on the pavement. luckily I work 5 minutes from the place and I plan to visit again this week.

12oz bottle poured into a Hair of the Dog tasting glass, shared with my father for Father's Day.

The beer pours a murky, deep brown color, hues of burgundy with a fizzy brown head that vanishes instantly leaving no film or lace behind. The aroma is of rich black cherry, soft, luscious bourbon, slight vanilla and oak with some dark chocolate finding its way around as well. The flavors are a bit more expansive, but a little less balanced, lots of cherry, charred wood, bourbon, tobacco, spices, toffee, chocolate, a touch of vanilla and wood, but lots of rich, malted grain. The body is rich, thick, coats the mouth well, low carbonation that finishes quite smoothly.

Verdict: A very nice take on Adam, a really solid Old Ale as it is, but one that might have a little too much going on. It has lots of components from the base beer, the cherries and the barrels, but none of them really seem to meld together in harmony. I enjoyed sipping this over the course of nearly an hour, and would do so again, but I'm not convinced this is a better version than the base beer.

Deep, dark viscous pour with a slight dark bing cherry hue. Thin bubbling of head comes up and fades out completely with little lacing or film. Decent legs as I swirl the beer around.

Incredibly potent and rich scents of toasted oak with a soft char and juicy cherries soaked in bourbon. Hints of smoke and leather with vanilla and continued warmth.

Truly luxurious right from the get-go with decadent bourbon barrel notes laced with cherries and dark fruit skin. Hints of burnt sugar and oak with complex layering of dark malts that envelop the tongue. My taste buds continue to soar with residual vanilla notes from the barrel and hints of smoke and leather from the base beer. Finishes with more syrupy cherry and alcohol warmth.

Fuller body, milder carbonation, creamy, velvety and soft on the tongue. I've been waiting about 3 years to try this and it completely lived up to (or blew away) my expectations. One of the best beers I've encountered to date.

A: Pours like a glass of red wine: deep maroon in color with no carbonation. No bubbles at all. Oh well.
S: Rich and sweet notes of black cherry juice, sherry, bourbon, damp wood, baking chocolate, maybe toffee and hints of leather.
T: Slick and greasy well integrated flavors of caramel syrup, bourbon barrel, sweet cherry, damp musty earth, chocolate and leather with hints of toffee, butterscotch, tobacco and leafy hops in the finish. Aftertaste is sweet with a hint of oak tannin and mild barrel spice.
M: Greasy thick and viscous mouth and body, heavy, buttery and greasy. Flat.
O: Really really good flavor. Flat in this case is ok, but a few bubbles would have been nice.

Thanks to Jeff for breaking this one out - 2011 vintage. Pours a raspberry-ruby shade of red with a substantial opaqueness in the center. Barely any head on this one, even after a pour straight down to the center of the glass - looks like the carbonation has mostly evaded this one, though it probably wasn't heavily carbonated to begin with.

Cherry Adam has that sweet and recognizable barleywine-like smell. Though it technically is an "old ale", what is the real difference between that and a barleywine? Not much. Sticky brown sugar aromas cloud the air; molasses, oak, and some light deep fruit. The cherries aren't nearly as heavy or easily-identifiable as I was expecting, though after a while they start to pop out a but more. Light cherries and mild booze, all with an underlying sweetness.

The taste is even more sweet than the aroma cares to show. The cherries? Yeah, what was lost in the aroma is more than compensated for in the flavor. Heavy black cherries, sweet plums, and a nice mix of berries. Fruity and delicate. The barrel aging is apparent - woody, oaky, and boozy throughout. Certainly a caramel malt bomb - lots of caramel, sticky toffee, and syrupy molasses. The black cherry sweetness shows its face more and more as this one goes on. The finish is much more woody and wet than the start, leaving an aftertaste full of oak, vanilla, booze, and a dying cherry sweetness. Silky and smooth mouth feel leaving a sticky coating on the mouth, medium-heavy bodied.

Very nice old ale... Robust and powerful with quite a presence. Though the cherries didn't "pop" in the aroma, they certainly came through on the palate. Sweet and surprisingly drinkable given the high ABV tag. A very nice transformation.

EDIT: 2012 vintage

Thanks to Tim for opening this for us. The '12 vintage had a much more smokey character than the '11, a little abrasive up front with less sweetness overall, even with the same, big cherry flavors. The booze was also a bit heavier in the '12 and had a solid whiskey-like presence. Overall, I think I liked the '11 better. Smoother and more easily drinking. These could honestly have been two different beers, but they were still both very tasty.

A: Pours a really deep dark black color. No light getting through here. Initially about a half finger of tight bubbles bottle conditioned head. It's a light tan color. There was actually a light hint of pinkish red in the head. Head did linger and leave a nice collar. Some alcohol feet. Not a lot of lacing sheeting.

T: Hints if cherry up front, right in the tip if the tongue you get that tartness. Then you push into the malt bill. Pulling hints of tobacco and leather. Sweetness too, possibly still from cherries. There is some really soft vanilla from the barrel aging. Hints of dark chocolate. Dark fruits. Long finish. Like other HotD brews, so much going on!

M: Full bodied. But the carbonation that's there help clear the palate. Very drinkable.

Got bottles of the 2012 and 2011 as a surprise from Claaark13. You were right. This HotD night wouldn't have been complete without these. Cheers man!

From a bottle into a snifter
Vintage: 2012
Drank the 2012 and 2011 back to back. Review is for the 2012 with comparisons to the 2011. Had also had a regular Adam and Adam from the Wood in the same session.

APPEARANCE: Pours out transparent brown and produces a small, medium looking, tan head with decent retention. Head fades rather quickly to a bubbly ring. Sits dark brown in the glass, almost black, with lower levels of carbonation evident. A muddy seal brown is perhaps the most accurate color description. A faint ring remain until the end, leaving some dots of lacing down the glass. Head is a little less impressive than the regular Adam, but body is much the same.

SMELL: Cherry heavy for sure. Some bourbon and oak in there, but the cherry is definitely the start of the show. Adam from the Wood had a touch of cherry in there already, so this is a couple steps beyond that. The 2011 had less cherry and more of the oak and bourbon, making for a better balanced and more interesting nose.

TASTE: Lots of cherry with some barrel flavors as well. This is bourbon barrel + cherry for sure. Milder but lingering finish of cherry, vanilla, coconut and oak from the bourbon barrels, as well as some light leather notes. A little more interesting than the nose. The 2011, much like the nose, had very little cherry flavor and, thus, a much stronger bourbon barrel presence.

PALATE: Similar to Adam from the Wood, though lighter on the palate. Medium body, not quite as much weight as expected, and slightly lower levels of carbonation. Nice and creamy on the palate, goes down smooth with a slight bit of heat and burn after the swallow. Finishes somewhat mouth coating. Decent, but could use some more weight. The 2011 must have had some carbonation issues as it was almost flat.

OVERALL: This was my least favorite of the night. I found the cherry a little too dominant in the 2012 bottle, which somewhat overwhelmed my palate. I actually preferred the more balanced and bourbon barrel forward 2011 version, though I'm not sure if that was a batch difference, a result of aging, or a combination of both. However, the relatively flat feel of the 2011 kind of ruined that one for me as well. In the end, I was happy to try these, especially side-by-side, but it's not one I'd go after again. Much preferred the regular Adam and Adam from the Wood. Cheers again for all the stuff Claaark13. This was a piss load of fun!

12 oz. bottle poured into a Duvel Tulip Style Glass. A hard pour gave it a nice dark tan colored head that came almost all the way to the top of the glass. The liquid itself is dark brown with nice amber highlights. Little bits of lacing on the edge of the glass, but nothing too crazy.

Taste is a slight step up, all of the aroma characteristics, but everything is slightly intensified. Grain, brown sugar, date/raisin flavors in particular jump out a little stronger. Starts off super sweet from the brown sugar. The sweetness continues from the cherries, but then the cherries provide the slightest tart flavor too. Nice sweetness from the vanilla at the end.

The mouthfeel is really good, full bodied, great carbonation level and super clean. Smooth the whole way through. Complex and so flavorful that the 10% alcohol is very well hidden. Stoaked to have been able to have a bottle of this all on my own.... Super delicious!

Reviewing the Cherry Adam From The Wood from Hair Of The Dog Brewing Company out of Portland, Oregon. Cherry Adam is Hair Of The Dog's Adam old ale aged with black cherries in Bourbon and Sherry casks for 15 months.
Score: 96

Fall 2012 vintage bottle served in a Surly Darkness snifter and enjoyed on 02/08/13. A major thanks and shout out to Kevin Fujii for hooking me up with this long time want!

Appearance: Pours a very dark reddish brown color with a thin layer of tan head with a reddish hue that settles to a thin ring around the glass. Poor lacing and retention. The color on this beer is quite intriguing. 3.75/5

Smell: The cherry and sherry qualities really shine in the nose, as does a prune-like smell. There is also a much more subtle and "balanced" bourbon aroma present as well, imparting vanilla, molasses, cocoa/chocolate, oak and a little toffee and faint dark fruit too. If your nose approaches the glass as just the right angle, these bourbon-based complexities really shine. There is also an extremely faint "smoke" quality in the aroma -- in substantially lesser quantum than what was present in Adam or Adam From The Wood. The mixture of the bourbon, sherry, cherry and prune in the nose make for a wonderfully complex experience. You could smell this beer all day and be continuously dazzled by how dynamic the aroma can be based on temperature and where your nose is positioned relative to the glass. As it warms up, the bourbon characters become more prominent and there cherry gets a little more "medicinal" -- but akin to the aroma of Deschutes' The Dissident or New Glarus' Belgian Red, as opposed to New Glarus' Thumbprint Cherry Stout. Maybe medicinal is not the proper term, as it carries such a negative connotation, and the cherry aroma here really works. 4.5/5

Taste: Initially, the bourbon flavors shine more than anticipated in light of the nose. Molasses, vanilla, cherry and prune. There's some slightly tannic sweetness and alcoholic warmth on the palate in the finish. There is substantially more dark fruit on the palate than the nose led on as well. The beer is sweet on the tongue, but it does not finish sweet -- lending to drinkability. As it warms up, a "bourbon-infused cherry" flavor with a nice subtle vanilla backbone grows. Some toffee flavor is present too. The bourbon-based flavors (molasses, etc) and a little bit of dark fruit and sherry defines the finish. There is a nice red grapey sherry flavor throughout. I am not detecting any smokiness whatsoever. This beer is admittedly a little hot fresh, but it is still so darn tasty! The finish is pretty crisp, with only a faint, non-sweet pruney-cherry flavor lingering for more than a second or two after the swallow. I am frankly shocked by how balanced the beer finishes in light of it's sweet qualities. 4.5/5

Mouthfeel: Full bodied with minimal carbonation. This one has a real nice viscosity. A little sweet on the palate, but the sweetness totally dissipates with the swallow. Slightly creamy, slightly sticky on the palate. 4.5/5

Overall: Hot fresh, but complex and delicious. Loaded with bold, boozy flavors here. Can't wait to revisit this batch in a year!

A -Poured black with a very small amount of medium brown head. Carbonation appears low.

S - Bourbon, oak and vanilla up front with plenty of sweet cocoa, molasses and smoke. There is a very light tart cherry aroma in the background.

T - Bourbon, toasted oak and vanilla come through from the barrels. The mid palate adds sweet cocoa, molasses and smoke. The finish is slightly tart with chocolate covered cherry flavours. A hint of tobacco is present as well. Great integration of the base beer and the barrel.

2012 bottle shared with other BAs at the HotD Tasting Room on 19 Jan 13. Poured into a tulip.

A: Pours a dark brown with nice plum colored highlights. A small head recedes immediately.

S: Cherry sweetness is on the forefront and the barrel really shines through as well. Oak and caramel malts add the the complexity. Very attractive aroma.

T: Cherry forward with the barrel perfectly complimenting the sweetness. Natural cherry flavor is perfect and the oak, caramel malt, and vanilla all come together for a well-balanced beer. Smooth bourbon as it finishes.

M: Adequate carbonation for a HotD beer, medium-bodied, smooth.

O: Takes Adam to another level. Each flavor compliments the others and make this a must have.